KangGURU
Travels to
Jombang and Madura 2005
Kevin visited Jombang in East Java to work together
with ISELP (Islamic
Schools English Language Project) and AVI teachers from Australia.
Activities included a Teacher Workshop at
Pondok Pesantren Darul Ulum in Jombang, student
visits and a meeting at SURGA FM. He then went
to Madura to present a KGRE
Teacher Workshop at the Pon Pes Al - Amien in Prenduan organized by
the KGRE Connection Club # 019 - the Pioneer English Club. Once again
Kevin worked together with two Aussie teacher trainers at the nearby
Pon Pes Annuqayah, Guluk Guluk - Margaret
(ISELP) and her husband John (AVI). The KGCC
Get Together at Prenduan was also a highlight of the trip.
Travel Report Jombang and Madura
The Sunday flight to Surabaya was quick and smooth. Within 40 minutes
of leaving Denpasar I was collecting the 50 kg of luggage for my workshop
in Jombang. Jombang is rather large for a country town with wide streets,
lots of tress and possibly the friendliest people I have met for a long
time. I met Cheryl at Surabaya airport. She is an ISELP teacher from Paciran,
East Java about 2 hours by public transport from Surabaya. Cheryl went
to Jombang with me to observe the workshop and to meet up with fellow
ISELP teachers there. The taxi ride was fine and by 3pm we were in the
Fatma Hotel. Caroline Milford, an AVI volunteer teacher based at Surga
FM in Jombang, soon called by the hotel. We went to her house for a small
get together for ISELP and volunteer teachers. It was great to finally
catch up with these Aussies and to hear about their work in pondok pesantrens
and schools in their areas. As we chatted it was very clear to me that
all of the ISELP teachers are very interested in East Java and in education.
The spoke dearly about their students and fellow teachers and how interesting
their jobs were.
Monday was workshop day.
Cheryl and I went to Pondok Pesantren Darul Ulum for the day's teacher
activities. Amber is based at that pondok pesantren. Close on 200 teachers
attended the workshop. They were terrific and so was the venue and the
work done by the Organizing Committee. Thanks to ISELP teacher Amber Earles
and here partner Ben Lui. Together they all helped to arrange a wonderful
day for local teachers. KGRE was happy to be involved. It was good to
meet Mark Avery, John Ollie and Michael Scott as well at the workshop
- other ISELP teachers working in East Java. After the workshop, as the
'heaven's opened' I spoke with several students who are in the
process of developing a television program for their school. Sounds great,
eh? I hope I hear from them again. They interviewed me and there may be
a way that KGRE can help them in the near future. It is now up to them
to write to KGRE with more information about their activities. I also
spoke to one man about a new radio station in the Jombang area for KGRE
to be involved with. More on that later I hope.
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In the late afternoon I visited
SURGA FM to meet with staff and students in a newly formed language
club linked to the radio station. Caroline Milford is a young Aussie
volunteer working at the radio station and has been helping the staff
there with a variety of tasks including helping with English, radio
programming and development of new radio programs. It is hoped that
Caroline can work with KGRE on the new radio network ideas for English
language interactive radio presenters in the next few months. |
| The language club students were terrific
and so very keen to make their club a good one. They are also very
lucky as SURGA FM and Caroline are there to help them get going.
I am very keen to see what they do in the next few months - exciting
things I hope. Taruna FM begins broadcasting KGRE in the Jombang
area soon with Pak Ulum. Good Luck to you and your staff Pak Ulum.
It is possible that in the near future KGRE will have another station
in the area making it three in total.
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Tuesday morning was great. I
met with university level students at Pondok Pesantren Darul Ulum
- basically students who work together with Ben. They have a rather
impressive student meeting room complete with books, study tables
and even a mini Aussie Corner. The 25 or so students were great and
we had quite a good series of questions and answers. |
However the next group of students was quite a surprise.
SMP level students at Pondok Pesantren Darul Darul Ulum were absolutely
fantastic. There were perhaps 40 SMP level students there to meet
me and I was so surprised at their excellent English language skills.
Their questions were amazing in both variety and volume. There were
plenty of questions from all of them including questions
such as -
- What is your idea of success?
- Do you prefer to live in Indonesia or Australia and why?
- What is the aim of KGRE?
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Our meeting lasted for around an hour and both Amber and I were thrilled
to be there. The students were so good. I now hope that they join the
Kang Guru Connection network. After booking out of the hotel, Cheryl and
I returned to Surabaya. I stayed in Surabaya overnight before leaving
for Madura at 8.00am the following morning. Cheryl returned to Paciran.
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At 8am on Wednesday, Pak Yudhi from
Sby, picked me up at the hotel for the short journey to Tanjung Perak
for the ferry crossing to Madura. Then there was a much longer journey
to Sumenep at the far eastern end of the island. Madura is well known
for fishing, batik and bull racing - kerapan sapi. I hope that
I can return to the area later this year, possibly in August or September,
to watch the bull racing. Later in the evening John and Margaret,
ISELP teachers based at Guluk Guluk came into Sumenep to meet me.
We went out for dinner and caught up on news from their pesantren
and from their last 2 months in Madura. |
The Teacher Workshop was well underway
by 8.00am with around 120 teachers in attendance, many of whom were actually
teachers in training. It was great to see them and to see their enthusiasm
for teaching. The KRE Connection Club # 019 - the Pioneer English Club
based at Pon Pes Al - Amien in Prenduan did a wonderful job organizing
the workshop. Many thanks to Pak Suriyadi and his organizing team for
their help and hard work. Margaret and John, teacher trainers (ISELP and
AVI) from nearby Pon Pes Annuqayah, Guluk Guluk were there to assist me
and contributed a lot to the success of the day. Although not many orders
were taken for KGRE materials I did offer the young trainee teachers a
special offer whereby they could receive FREE Teacher Packages if they
write to me before April 15th with a letter of approximately
200 words. The letter had to tell me about either their school teaching
experience or their career. Let's wait and see how many of them actually
take the time to write to me.
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In the evening I attended a student meeting in Sumenep
organized by ECC Sumenep - not a KGRE club yet. Pak Suriyadi was once
again 'in charge' of the event and did a great job.
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I estimate that there were 250 students there
ranging from SD level right through to university level including
many KGCC members. John and Margaret also attended and we enjoyed
the performances, the questions and the special Madurese food they
prepared for us. The interactive dialogue was a little difficult because
audience members were quiet excited and noisy however the questions
asked were terrific and there were plenty of them.
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On Friday morning I returned
to Pon Pes Al Amien in Prenduan for the KGRE Connection Club Get Together.
Over 400 club members were there and not just from the KGCC network
either. Other local clubs were invited to participate and that's a
great way to promote KGRE in the area.
The KGCC was represented by KGCC #027 MaDia
English Club based in Pemakasan and KGCC # 019 Pioneer
English Club.
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| The members were great fun and besides
KGRE Quiz activities (see winners right) we also had performances
from club members to watch. It was a very entertaining morning and
thanks must once again go to Pak Suriyadi and his team or organizers.
Club members were wonderful - so friendly, bright and fun loving.
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After the KGCC Get Together I headed
for the hills to make a quick visit to Margaret and John in Pon Pes Annuqayah,
Guluk Guluk about 15 minutes north of Prenduan. At the pondok pesantren
I met with three separate groups of people - two student groups (and they
were lively) and a group of highly motivated teachers. More on this later
as the school in which Margaret and John (ISELP) work as teacher trainers
is ready for action - and so is KGRE!
Return to Past Travels of KGRE in Indonesia
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